Baseball – America’s pastime – is not widely thought of as a Mexican-American sport. But in Southern California – San Diego’s Logan Heights neighborhood in particular (now known as Barrio Logan) – it was introduced in the 1920s, and became very big business soon thereafter.
The Old Globe Theatre presents the Globe-commissioned world premiere of playwright José Cruz González’s “Under a Baseball Sky” through March 12 at the Globe’s Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre. The dreamlike production covers a lot of territory: community, friendship, activism, overarching joy, desperate sadness and hope. James Vásquez directs this, as he did González’s previous Globe commission “American Mariachi.”
There are five characters: elderly matron Éli (Laura Crotte, a wonder in her Globe debut), who lives alone in a house we don’t really see, but we do see the attached yard (the stage), where the other four characters come and go. This serves as back yard, occasional baseball diamond, and place of annoyance for another character, a high schooler named Teo (Diego Josef), recently expelled from school and now assigned to clean up Éli’s back yard in order to be readmitted to school.
As if that weren’t bad enough, Teo’s mother, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was stopped for a broken taillight one night. Since she had left her papers at home, she was sent back to Mexico. So in addition to being kicked out of school, Teo is parentless and alone, and forced to deal with the adult notion of what kind of person he is when “life throws curveballs.”
He’s lucky to be tutored by community counselor Chava (Joseph Morales), a kind person who wants to help.
We will also meet Éli’s children, soldier Santiago (Cesar J. Rosado), who has gone off to war, and baseball-playing daughter Paloma Ana Nicolle Chavez), each of whom come to visit their mother when not otherwise occupied. These two provide many moments of joy and tenderness as well as grief, as the plot thickens.
Time slips and slides, and much emotional baggage is exposed and discussed in both Spanish and English.
There are many themes, including gentrification, racism, generational trauma, parenting,, civic responsibility, even unionism, the American dream and too many others to mention.
This is a difficult piece to present, what with all the time shifts, emotional baggage exposed, and characters who come and go. Bravo to director Vásquez for keeping it all moving.
The show has a strong behind-the-scenes team as well. Scenic designer Anna Louizos gives us a vacant lot enclosed with a chicken-wire shed at the opposite end.
Rui Rita’s lighting design offers flashes of color, shadows and surprising depth to the small workspace. Leon Rothenberg adds sounds (like of hitting a baseball or a car rushing by) that add depth and interest to the design.
Miracles can happen, they say, under a baseball sky. This is a miraculous production.
The details
“Under a Baseball Sky” plays through March 23, 2023 at The Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, (address) in Balboa Park.
Shows Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.
(Note: A 2 p.m. matinee is scheduled on Wednesday, March 8, and Saturday, March 11, only one 8 p.m performance, is scheduled.
Tickets: www.TheOldGlobe.org or (619) 234-5623
Runtime: 90 minutes (one act, no intermission)
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